Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

This is a topic I have pondered on for a long time. Iam fortunate in having owned a Sierra Cosworth, one of the last fifty built in fact. The car was shoddily built, a 1993 registered but constructed in late 1992 which I boought as a 1700 mile ex dem onstrator in July 1993. The turbo charged 2.0 litre engine was a revelation once you got uised to the tubo lag and it was really fun to .drive.

I currently own an E46 BMW M3 which is a different beast. Mine has a deresitricted 3.2 litre engine and is theoretically capable of 180mph I am told rather than 155 mph and the power can be quite frightening at first. I nearly lost the back end after switching off the traction control on my first drive in it.
It was soon switched back on. Raw power rather than turbo charged.

Strange though it may seem I have read that a late 70s Pontiac Transam 6.6 litre ( Smokey and the bandit) is a very underwhelimng vehicle despite the big engine.

A half way option was/is a turbo "big" engine. I was once a passenger in an imported Mitsubishi GTO with the twin turbo 3.0 litre petrol unit. What a car! The closest thing to a Ferrari I will ever be in.
A Porsche 911 was a revelation as a passenger as well. A 1992 car I recall. an SE model.

I could not have lived with the Evo 9 Mitsubishi Lancer I was given a drive in. The turbo was like an "on/off" switch although the power was huge and different to my former Sierra Cosworth but the ride was very hard.

For raw "big engined power" in my experience was a late S2 V12 Jaguar XJ6.
A friend had inhertited the car. a 6000 mile on;y example from his uncle in late 1983 The horizion seemed to leap at you when you pressed the accelerator necause the 5.3 litre engine was almost inaudible.
It was no sportscar but it was the most powerful vehicle I have driven.

I hankered after a TVR Chimaera until friends including the very capable garage owner, Dave Evans who has "attended" to our cars for over thirty years persuaded me not to.The sound of the TVR V8 engines is still allurimg to me even today

I have been told that the current 1.0 litre "top end" hot Ford Focus is more powerful than a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. I wonder.



Where do you good people stand? Raw big engines or turbo charged smaller ones ?

For me it is raw big engined power.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[bjacko]

My everyday car is a Ford Falcon 4ltr turbo which is reported by motoring journalists as going from 0 to 60MPH in 5.1 seconds. Never tried it myself but it is very handy for joining freeway traffic already doing 60MPH on the short joining roads we have here.It was reported back in 2008 when it was built that it was the fastest mass produced car in the world for 0 to 60MPH.
One of my grandsons has a Ford Focus with the Volvo 5 cylinder turbo charged engine and it accelerates like a rocket.The Falcon was an Australian designed and built car. It has only done 17,000KM in just over 17 years -I am 88 years old!
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP

[mikeC]

For 99% of my motoring, give me a N/A large (well, relatively large) engine; for the 1% when I want to be a hooligan then maybe a small turbo one, although I have never experienced one. In fact my only turbo experience was in a 2-litre turbo-diesel Fiat Marea which I thought was absolutely awful - no performance up to 3000 revs then, bang, but it was all over by 4000 revs. I really didn't see the point of it.
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in the garage: a big empty space!
Recently departed: 1938 Talbot Ten, 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!

[Keith D]

My 2010 4WD Mitsubishi Challenger (station wagon version of the Triton) is 2.5 litre turbo diesel and pulls my caravan as if it weighed nothing. Turbo lag is almost zero. Travels at 110km/hour effortlessly and you can't hear the motor. Is a little bit thirsty however....

When not towing, I prefer large lazy 6 cylinder petrol engines.

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[Rootes75]

We've recently been on holiday and hired a Vauxhall Corsa, it was a 3-cylinder 1.2 with turbo and tbh I wouldn't want to drive one again. It certainly was useless on hills, with very little go in it, the reviews say its 'punchy' on acceleration but hat was about all it was.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Vintage Fly Guy]

As the saying goes, there ain't no replacement for displacement! Yes, modern turbocharged petrol engines can be powerful and turn a car into a rocket ship, but it's a different kind of power, rather than the torque-drenched stuff you get from a big V8 or V12.

As for 0-60 in 5.1 seconds, that's eclipsed these days by hybrids and EVs, but then again, many of those tend to run out of steam at around 130mph, while the big V8 or V12 engined sports and grand tourers will often carry on well past this to speeds well above 150mph.

Whether that amount of power can often be used on public roads is a moot point... and thereby hangs the tail, anything much quicker than around 7 seconds to 60 or a top end of over 100 can't really be exploited or enjoyed these days, unless on a track. So anything more is just a waste on today's roads.